


The Story of the First Ghoul (is Unknown)

by geneticus



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Gen, Poetry, Speculation, Worldbuilding, ghoul origins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 04:51:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15112157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geneticus/pseuds/geneticus
Summary: "Nobody knows who the first ghoul was.Nobody knows when she would have lived, or how she lived, or when she may have died.Nobody knows her name."





	The Story of the First Ghoul (is Unknown)

Nobody knows who the first ghoul was.

 

Nobody knows when she may have lived, or how she lived.

Or when she may have died.

 

Nobody knows her name.

 

You see, history is not written by ghouls.

Ghouls are usually poor, uneducated, isolated.

Most of them live on the margins of society.

 

For the few ghouls who can afford a history, it is not shared outside of their own families.

(They must, by necessity, keep their secrets.)

(They do not want to be known for what they are.)

 

Therefore, the history of ghouls is unknown.

 

So too, the story of the first ghoul is unknown.

 

Nobody knows what her age, her race, or her language may have been.

Nobody would have known of the woman she was, or the creature she became.

Nobody would have known if she was human, at first.

Nobody would have known what her life was like.

(If that was indeed her story.)

 

Nobody would have known if she had nothing.

 

If she suffered tremendously.

 

She may have had no family.

She may have had no friends.

She may have had no home.

 

Nobody would have known if she was hungry, always hungry.

Maybe she could not afford food.

 

She may have only lived on garbage and refuse to survive.

 

She may have eaten the bark off the trees,

the leather off her shoes,

the dirt off the ground,

the insects off the stones.

She may have eaten the rotten, dead animals decaying on the sides of roads.

 

Maybe her diet (even if it was not like this) left her weak.

 

It is likely she could not fight.

 

Nobody knows if she may have, eventually, had to fight.

 

And lost.

 

Nobody would have heard her prayer in the moments before death.

 

She may have been left on the ground, broken, bleeding, and alone.

 

 

 

....Well, perhaps not quite so alone.

 

 

....Perhaps something may have heard her.

 

 

If something did hear her, nobody could know what it was.

Whether it was some greater force, or perhaps simply something inside her.

 

Was it a god?

Was it a demon?

Was it something come from far beyond our world?

Or was it something lying dormant in her own DNA?

 

Well, only she could have known that.

 

But, no matter what it was, something may have answered her desperation.

Somehow, her fate may have been changed.

 

This something may have heard her say:

I want to live.

 

It may have heard her say:

I want to heal.

 

It may have heard her say:

I don't want to be hurt again.

I want to become strong.

Stronger than anything.

I want to eat; I want to eat well.

 

I want to eat _meat_.

 

I want to defend myself against what has hurt me.

I want to kill those who would hurt me.

 

  
All this and more, something may have heard her say.

And somehow, she may have heard an answer back.

 

 

  
Nobody remembers the first ghouls.

 

Nobody remembers what happened to her.

 

(If this did happen. If it is real.)

 

  
Nobody lives who may have witnessed her flesh healing. Her eyes changing.

The flesh blossoming forth from her back like wings.

 

Nobody exists who might recall the blood she spilled. The flesh she ate.

 

The life she lived.

 

The children she birthed.

 

 

And maybe, this is not what happened.

 

Maybe, the true story is something else.

 

There is nobody alive who can tell us.

 

The only thing known for sure is that ghouls exist, and they must have come from somewhere.

But the details are lost to time.

 

Like a prayer whispered on the breeze.

Like the taste of copper lingering on the tongue.

 

 

  
Never to be recorded.

**Author's Note:**

> I've always been fascinated by the world of Tokyo Ghoul beyond the lives and troubles of the canon cultures, and the mysteries of the ghoul species and its origins are an important part of that. I came up with this little poem-story as I was sitting down and brainstorming ideas for who the first ghoul(s) were, and this scene came to my mind of ghoul powers first manifesting for a dying woman who had lived an incredibly hard life, which became what they were because of the ways she had suffered. I started writing it down, and here we are!
> 
> I will admit, there are a lot more ideas (and probably a lot more likely of ideas) for what the origin of the ghoul species may have looked like, but I enjoyed writing this one and I wanted to share it. If anyone else wants to talk about ghoul origin or history or culture ideas, or has written stories featuring their own interpretations, feel free to comment! And if you're interested in seeing even more general worldbuilding ideas about ghouls and the history and culture of the world of Tokyo Ghoul, then leave a review or a kudos to kick me in the pants to write some more. But no matter what, thanks so much for reading!


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